Friends of Turner’s Nursery

There used to be many nurseries to serve the population. … They delivered their goods by horse and cart then later by motorcycle. Mr. Turner and his son Bill …bought Uppleby House from Elizabeth Uppleby and started the business on 150 acres of the surrounding land.

In Bill Turner’s will, he left the green space at the top of Victoria Road opposite the cemetery “to be an open space for all time, so people can breathe”.

A History of Upper Parkstone, Patricia M Wilnecker

Friends of Turner’s Nursery

Although it is an “urban myth” that Bill Turner left his nursery to the people of Poole in his will (in fact it was sold to the Council by his family in 1982), it is true that it is an important green lung for the people of Upper Parkstone. That is why a number of us got together to protect it.

We are a group of people who live in Upper Parkstone and who would like to see the bramble patch at Turner’s Nursery opened up for use by the community and protected from over-development. We believe that all open space in Poole is precious.

Some of us have years of experience working together in a community garden. Others are new to the whole idea and ready to learn. One of our number, Jamie, who lived off Uppleby Road, has written about his vision for the land (see below). What’s your vision? We have started to plan and to plant, need your help to nurture and progress.

If you would like to learn more or get involved, please get in touch.

FriendsofTurnersNursery@gmail.com

or find us on facebook

Turners Nursery (Google Map Image)

Turner’s Field – Our Future

In the heart of Upper Parkstone lies a field of brambles and possibilities. It was left to us – the people of Poole – and it has been left to go wild.

We understand that some people at Branksome Heath Middle School would like to see this peaceful wildlife haven become a multi-use play area for school children. As local residents, we want to preserve quiet space for ourselves and for wildlife. We also know the pressure schools are under with the recent closures.

Perhaps we can come up with a plan that works for everyone.

When I was a girl, we did nature studies and it was lovely.
— Valerie, local resident

Turner’s Field could continue to be a beautiful wildlife haven, a place for children to learn about nature and also a bountiful source of fresh and free food for us and for future generations of Poole residents.

I can imagine a community orchard with fruit and nut trees, medicinal herbs, a wildlife pond, a community vegetable garden, spaces to rest and for children and adults to learn, play and explore. It could be a place to revive the local community.

We can learn from our neighbours. For example, there’s the Tatnam Organic Patch in Oakdale. Once a bramble patch, it’s now been a community garden for 12 years.

What kind of future would you like to help create?

What have we achieved ?

The first success was in getting local people to be interested in the project, and forming “Friends of Turners Nursery”, we then got permission from Borough of Poole to create a wildlife-friendly community orchard. With their help, the brambles on the eastern end of the site were tamed, and the site surveyed, especially for how water flowed across it. We got a bit anxious as Wessex Water needed to build a major new sewer through the site, but thankfully we were able to work with them, and use the woodchip that they created.

We had a grant of a hedge from the Woodland Trust, and the first fruit trees are in. It is all looking very good.

Turners Nursery with the first fruit trees in Spring 2014

If you want to get involved and help define how this plot develops, contact Harriet on 01202 735758, or check our Facebook page.

12 Responses to Friends of Turner’s Nursery

Dear Friends of Turner’s Nursery,
In recent times I have become unwell and unable to work. I can no longer drive so every day I walk my dog to Turner’s Field. I have grown to love this small oasis of peace and it was with some dismay I saw that some sort of work has begun. Like you I would like to see this space preserved as the space it is and the idea of a community orchard sounds so lovely. As a former school worker I feel that children would benefit much more from a “learning” environment in an open space. It would be too easy to erect a few swings and a slide which would end up being vandalised and the haunt of underage drinkers at night! Just ask the residents around Branksome Rec.

The council have mown the brambles on the part of the site they have agreed we could look to put an orchard on. This is to alow us to survey it properly, understand how the water flows down the hill, what the soil is like, and come up with some ideas for layout. We’ve applied to the Woodland Trust for a free hedge, and we’ll need the locals to be involved both in designing the site, and making it happen.

As to vandalism, we can only hope to engage youths in the work, so they get a sense of pride and participation, and gaining skills in the process.

We don’t have any money to achieve something overnight, and that will be better in many ways, as the site and ideas can grow over several seasons. Meanwhile, those brambles will be back, and we will probably have to fight them again to make space to plant anything !

I would be willing to help in work on the prodject if it would contained and dogs were not allowed on this part of the green as the rest of the greenspace is unuasable as it iscontaminated with fouling by the dogs of the surounding areas i would appreciate a n answer from you

Dear Matthew, Great to meet you briefly at the public meeting on Saturday! Thank you so much for your offer of help. It is much appreciated and will gladly be taken up.

Dear Sandra, I can understand your frustration with dog fouling. The community orchard will be open to all. We can only ask people not to let their dogs foul in the gardens and hope that our request is respected. Perhaps as more people grow to visibly care about Turner’s Nursery and Field, people will take more care.

I remember Mr Turner sun tanned and on his motor bike.
My great Aunty Ev (Evelyn ) worked for him for years also my grand mother for a while.Aunty Ev lived on the edge of the Nursery down Livingstone Road and was married to my great Uncle.I think Mr Turner paid off her house for her as a Thank You for many years of physical hard work and service to him.
I remember the great fire at his Nursery when I was little as I lived down Jackson Road and also every Sunday morning in the summer being sent to the Nursery to get our families fresh vegetables and salads
( also flowers ).
My grand father told me a local rumour that Mr Turner used to bury his sovereign coins in jars on his land so if anyone has a metal detector ….????
let me know if you find anything….!!!!!!!!
Deborah

I lived in Uppleby Rd from my birth (1952) until I emigrated to Australia in 1969. I remember Turner pretty well from when I was very young, maybe seven, and was sent to buy a lettuce from him by my mother. I recall him being scarily weird, and yes, also in shorts and little else.

I recall the Rolls Royce as a ruin on the “other side” of the un-tarred section of Uppleby Road from the mouldering remains of the house. IIRC, that part of the land holding (where the house was) was overgrown but you could get through to the remains of the house. Later, seemingly overnight, a wall of concrete slabs sprang up. They couldn’t stop us. That house was pretty exciting when we were kids.

My memory might be warped, but was the RR an “Estate Car” model? I remember it being next to some sort of building, (garage, barn, greenhouse?) I remember there being a patch of marrows nearby?

I agree with Sandra, dogs should be excluded. My reason being that dog faeces contain contaminants that can cause blindness and for that reason I think that potential gardeners of that area deserve to know their sight is safe who the donate free help.

For ALL except dogs does not exclude dog owners from walking there alone.

I do hope that dogs will be excluded as I would very much like to be a volunteer.

That’s great to hear your memories, Ron. It would be wonderful to have a local history record and I hope one day someone will do a project on this to archive it all. Bill Turner was certainly a colourful character!
Alis and Sandra – We do ask people not to let their dogs run around in the orchard – but the gates are not locked so there’s not much we can do to enforce this when we’re not there.
Thanks all for your interest. Most of our conversations take place via Facebook – or in person on site these days, that’s why we look at this thread just occasionally. Cheers – Harriet

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